Changes
/* Attraction History */
Reflections of China is a movie located within the [[China]] pavilion, within [[Epcot]].
==Attraction History==
When Imagineers initially conceived the China pavilion, plans for what would eventually become Reflections of China originally called for the show film to be film shown on a standard theater screen<ref name= "Martin2"> http://www.martinsvids.net/ </ref>. Eventually, before it however, the attraction was developed into a CircleVision 360 film. In order to create the attraction, Imagineers led by director Jeff Blyth traveled to China in film a travelogue style movie <ref name= "Jack"> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/walt_disney_world/theme_parks/epcot/china/ </ref>. Initially, the Chinese government was interested in partnering with Disney, but was uncomfortable with Western film crews filming their country. Because of this, at the outset the government but strict restrictions of Disney's film crew, including making the Great Wall and Tibet off limits.
{{Quotation|I chose Li Po, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, to be our guide and on-camera narrator. This might seem like the equivalent of using Shakespeare to narrate a film on present day England, but I deliberately chose a historic figure so that the words he spoke would not seem to some conservative members of the audience like the official party line. <ref name="casting"> Viner, Michael, and Terrie Maxine. Frankel. Tales from the Casting Couch: An Unprecedented Candid Collection of Stories, Essays, and Anecdotes by and about Legendary Hollywood Stars, Starlets, and Wanna-bes--. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove, 1995. Print. Pages 68-69 </ref>}}
The completed Wonders of China film was approximately 19 minutes long, and it featured parts of China that had never been seen by most Westerners <ref name= "Jack"/>. The total cost of making the film as just over $1,000,000 <ref name= "times"> https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19820607&id=tvdLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kO4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7014,2843621&hl=en </ref>. The film attraction opened with the rest of World Showcase on October 1, 1982. The film remained unchanged until 2002. By 2002however, China had become both an industrial country and a popular tourist attraction. With these changes, Wonders of China began to seem dated. Imagineers eventually decided that they needed to update the film, and on March 25, 2002 Wonders of China was shown for the final time <ref name= "book"/>.
Jeff Blythe returned to direct the updated film, which would used combine new footage of the country shot in 2002, along with scenes from the original film, and scenes shot in 1981 that had never been used. Imagineer Steve Spiegel wrote the screenplay for the attraction's new scenes <ref name="Chinanews"> http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/43324.htm </ref> Disney's film crews arrived in China in September 2002 for two months of filming<ref name="Chinanews"/>. Joined by filmmakers from the the China Research Institute of Film Science, the team set out to record new footage in seven Chinese cities<ref name="Chinanews"/>. Among the biggest additions to film, were scenes featuring Hong Kong and Macao which were not governed by the Chinese China when the original film was made. In a similar fashion, film crews also reshot Shanhai, which had been modernized in the preceding intervening twenty years. Other scenes, including the Great Wall, Tienanmen Square, Beijing, Harbin, and Urumqi were all updated for the 21st century <ref name= "Jack"/>. When commenting on the updated film, Jeff Blyth noted:
{{Quotation| "The biggest difference is that 20 years ago we had permission to film on these locations, but people did not really understand what we were doing. We did not get as much cooperation as we are getting now"<ref name="Chinanews"/>}}
In addition to the updated scenes, Reflections of China (as the film would now be called) also received and updated score composed by Richard Bellis <ref name="book"/>. This new score featured new sections added to a revised version of the original Wonders of China score. Finally, although the film was still narrated by Li Po, a new narration was recorded for the film. In the attraction's new scenes, a body double was used to replace original actor Keye Luke, who had passed away in 1991.
Reflections of China officially opened to guests on May 23, 2003. Since this time, the attraction has not seen any major changes.